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Woven Wire Hollow Forms
Explore ways to create wire hollow-formed jewelry, using this beautiful and traditional technique practiced in Senegal and Mali. Students will discover new tools and opportunities to create beautiful 3D hollow pieces made of wire.
Step by step, we will learn how to effectively twist two wires together, carve a wooden form, and wrap it with the wire. We will then burn out the wood, revealing the hollow form. Finally, we will solder the structure to give it strength. The whole process, including forming, will be shown and learned through the making of a bracelet.
Meet the instructor
Matthieu moved from Paris to New-Mexico when he was 19, where for seven years he studied Navajo, Hopi and Zuni jewelry techniques. He was immediately drawn to stamping, making concho belts and bracelets. He then moved to Mali, West-Africa and worked for a few years with the Fulani, Tuareg and Bambara jewelers.
In 1999, Matthieu settled in Montreal Canada and continued his studies by going to a jewelry school and learning a more classical part of the trade. Over the years, Matthieu has returned to Africa regularly.
In 2014, Tim McCreight and Mattheiu Cheminee created the Toolbox Initiative, a non-profit organization that helps jewelers in West Africa through the gifts of donated tools.
“I have been stamping and making stamps since the beginning and have developed a form of stamping design by creating patterns that fill the entire piece of metal. This is called “tessellation”.
Matthieu has written two books, “Legacy, jewelry techniques of West Africa“ and “The Art of Stamping”, both published at Brynmorgen Press.
Visit Matthieu's website or instagram page for more info on his work.
Materials & Tools
The following supplies will be used for course demonstrations and objectives. A suggested item and/or vendor has been provided below for reference. Click the vendor name (in red) to be redirected to a page where you can find the item. The quantities needed for each item are listed first. If ordering, please be aware that some items may come in larger quantities than needed for this class. We recommend not opening an item's packaging until the day of the workshop. Student participation during or in-between class sessions is strongly encouraged but not required - observers are welcome.
Metal/raw materials:
- 30' x .999 Fine Silver Round Wire, 24g. - Dead-Soft (Rio Grande)
- At least 1"x1"x7" x Balsa Wood (Amazon)
- 1 x Silver Sheet Solder - Medium (Rio Grande)
- 32oz x Ethanol or similar (Walmart)
Hand Tools
- 1 x round nose pliers (Rio Grande)
- 1 x chain nose pliers (Rio Grande)
- 1 x flat nose pliers (Rio Grande)
- 1 x snips / flush cutters (Rio Grande)
- 1 x jewelers saw (Rio Grande)
- 1 x pack saw blades - 2/0 (Rio Grande)
- 1 x burlife / bee's wax (Rio Grande)
- 1 x bench pin (Rio Grande)
- 1 x half round hand file - #2 cut (Rio Grande)
Forming Tools
- 1 x rotary tool - flex shaft, micro motor, etc. (Rio Grande)
- 1 x set of needle files - #2 cut (Rio Grande)
- 1 x half round forming pliers (Rio Grande)
- 1 x center punch (Rio Grande)
- 1 x scribe (Rio Grande)
- 1 x rawhide / plastic mallet (Rio Grande)
- 1 x riveting hammer (Rio Grande)
- 1 x steel block / steel surface (Rio Grande)
- 1 x small steel ruler (Rio Grande)
- 1 x sheet of sand paper - 220 to 600 grits (Amazon)
- 1 x calipers (Amazon)
- 1 x dividers (Rio Grande)
- 1 x sanding sticks / paint stirs (Rio Grande)
- 1 x parallel pliers (Rio Grande)
- 1 x bezel mandrel - 1mm to 5mm (Rio Grande)
Torch Setup
- 1 x fireproof area - steel sheet, tiles, etc. (Amazon or Home Depot)
- 1 x Solderite™ pad / pan with pumice, etc. (Rio Grande or Rio Grande)
- 1 x compressed charcoal block - hard (Rio Grande)
- 1 x torch - Smith mini, Silversmith, or butane (Rio Grande or Rio Grande)
- 1 x #0 or #1 torch tip - if using Silversmith (Rio Grande)
- 1 x soldering tweezers (Rio Grande)
- 1 x soldering pick (Rio Grande)
- 1 x 3rd arm (Rio Grande)
- 1 x cross lock tweezers (Rio Grande)
- 1 x paste flux (Rio Grande)
- 1 x copper tongs - for pickle (Rio Grande)
- 6" x silver solder - hard (Rio Grande)
- 6" x silver solder - medium (Rio Grande)
- 6" x silver solder - easy (Rio Grande)
- 1 x pickle - sodium bisulfate or citric acid (Rio Grande or Amazon)
- 1 x crock pot or lidded glass container - for pickle (Amazon)
- 1 x tempered glass container or sink - for quenching and rinsing
- 1 x small brush - for flux